Welcome to the Leicester Bangs Blog - check regularly for arts and music news, occasional previews and lots of reviews.
Find out what's on at Leicester's Musician Venue with our daily update, and follow us on Twitter @LeicesterBangs

Tuesday, 16 April 2013

Review: Kipyn Martin – Undercover Muse

Kipyn
Martin – Undercover Muse(Independent)

When you hear a new artist for the first time, there
is always some facet or characteristic that you’ll initially pick up on. With
Kipyn Martin it’s undoubtedly her voice, an instrument of unrefined purity,
which is wonderfully suited to her blues based folk and Americana material.
She’s honed her style by extensively touring with her mentor, Pops Walker,
throughout Western and Northern Virginia, and playing many gigs in her current
hometown of Washington DC. In between she’s received a Master of Music degree
in composition from Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA.

From what I can ascertain, “Undercover Muse” is
Martin’s debut collection, and she opens her account with the title track, a
folk rocker that somehow connects Sandy Denny period Fairports with acoustic
Grateful Dead. It’s a beautiful combination of styles, and leads into the
equally lovely “Orchard”. Martin’s voice is just captivating, and engulfs the
listener in warm, complex tones. Musically things are kept quite simple with
acoustic guitars providing the majority of the backing, allowing Martin’s voice
and her songs to take centre-stage. Perhaps my favourite is “Nightbird” – it’s
slow jazz arrangement seeps into the bones, and sticks around the subconscious
long after the album has finished.